Counting Collections Valentines Day Edition

Ahhh! Counting Collections is my very favorite thing to teach (I know I say that about everything but for today...it is true). There is nothing better than watching an entire room of kinder students persevere and work towards counting a collection. Of course most of our collections go up to 100 (shhh, dont' tell) but some have even more and some a little less. I blogged about this fun week in kindergarten HERE if you want to see the 'regular' edition.Here is the video I watch every year to get inspired to teach this unit. It's from the Teaching Channel and if you haven't signed up for their emails you should! They have great PD videos available on a weekly basis.I found some really fun Valentine's Day props to add to our counting collections bins. I have been searching for these for FOREVER! Silicone ice cube trays in the shape of a heart! I've been looking ever since I found these pumpkin trays.

They weren't a dollar like their pumpkin counterparts but I was able to cut them into two different 10 frames. I had 4 cute little leftovers too....I'm still figuring out what to do with those!

I found heart gems at the Dollar Store. I've been searching for those for forever too! The students will fill the ten frame, make a pile of ten, and repeat until they get 10 piles of 10. Of course I let them figure all of that out on their own. It's fun to hear them try different ways to get to 100. Some of them use the 10 frames and some choose not to. It's different every year.I also found these really fun little spiky balls to add to our collections. I couldn't resist even though they were $1.98 a bag (at Walmart, in the Valentine's stuff). There is something oddly therapeutic about putting your hand in a bag of these. Sensory bin necessity for sure!

Those are the extras I added to our counting collections bins. If you look at my original post I keep all of my collections in pencil pouches.

I didn't put them away last year, I left all of the pouches full of items and ready to go so this year I have ZERO prep! Woohoo! Yay me! (That is a serious cheer for me moment....it's not very often that I actually plan ahead to save myself time!) That's what we will be doing this week and then the Valentine's collections will stay in our math tubs the rest of the month. I can't wait because I know the kiddos will love these!